9 war crimes charges proven against SQ Chy

War criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury will die for killing Kundeshwari Oushadhalaya owner Nutan Chandra Singha, genocide of Hindus at Sultanpur and Unsattar Parha and abducting and murdering a Hathazari Awami League leader and his son.

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The first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh
also sentenced the BNP MP to 20 years in prison for three charges each which
include murder, complicity in genocide, loot, arson and deportation; and five
years each for another two charges, which include abduction and
torture.

Remaining six charges (9, 13, 15, 16, 21 and 22) were not evaluated
as the prosecution failed to produce any witnesses to substantiate
them.

Death Sentence

The six-time MP from Chittagong was
given the capital punishment for each of four other charges — 3, 5, 6 and 8 —
that include murder, genocide and murder after abduction.

The third
charge accuses the BNP MP of killing Kundeshwari Oushadhalaya owner and
social worker Nutan Chandra Singha of Raozan’s Gohira on Apr 13. Killing of
unarmed Singha has been termed a crime against humanity.

The fifth
charge accuses Chowdhury of genocide and arson as crimes against humanity.
He had led the Pakistani Army to Banik Parha at Sultanpur village at Raozan at
noon on Apr 13, 1971. They had opened fire on the unarmed civilian Hindus there
and murdered four.

According to the sixth charge, he led the
Pakistani troops to attack Unsattar Parha at Raozan in the afternoon same day.
They gathered the Hindus of the locality for a peace meeting and following a
pre-arranged plan opened fire on them. Altogether 70 were murdered, of whom 50
people were identified and the rest were unknown. One Januti Bala Pal was shot
in the waist, but survived. She and the rest of the Hindus had fled the country
and taken shelter in India as refugee.

Charges of genocide and
deportation have been brought against Chowdhury in this count.

According
to the eighth charge, Salauddin Quader had direct complicity in abduction
and murder of Awami League leader Sheikh Mozaffar Ahmed and his son Sheikh
Alamgir on Apr 17.

20 years in jail

The tribunal sentenced
Salauddin Quader to 20 years in prison for three charges – 2, 4, and 7 -
each.

According to the second charge, on Apr 13, he along with
several others accompanied the Pakistani army that raided Maddhya Gohira Hindu
Parha in Raozan. Pakistani army opened fire killing Poncha Bala Sharma, Sunil
Sharma, Jyoti Lal Sharma, and Dulal Sharma on the spot and Dr Makhon Lal Sharma
died after several days from wounds sustained during the attacks.

Another
victim, Jayanta Kumar Sharma, was alive for some years,
handicapped.

According to the tribunal, the acts of murder and injury
committed in order to destroy the members of Hindu religious group in whole or
in part fall under the category of genocide.

The fourth charge
accuses him of planning, complicity, genocide, loot, arson, and deportation. He
had led a group of accomplices along with Pakistan Army and raided Jogot Mollo
Parha on April 13. Two of his accomplices had gone to the Hindus there and asked
them to attend a peace meeting. They were fired upon when they gathered in the
courtyard of Kiron Bikash Chowdhury’s house.

As many as 32 people were
killed at the time while three others survived with injuries. Later the house
was looted and set on fire. The survivors later fled to India.

Charge
number seven accuses Salauddin Quader of crimes against humanity which
includes complicity in murder of Satish Chandra Palit on Apr 14, burning his
house and deportation of his family.

5 years in
prison

Salauddin Quader, who is also a member of the BNP’s National
Standing Committee, was given five years imprisonment each for another two
charges — 17 and 18.

The 17th charge accuses him of abduction,
confinement and torture.

On July 5, 1971, he had abducted Nizamuddin
Ahmed, Shiraj and Wahid alias Junu Pagla and took them to Goods Hill. They were
abused, tortured and interrogated and later taken to Chittagong stadium where
10/12 others were being held. Junu was released while Ahmed and Shiraj were
confined until Bangladesh won freedom.

Charge number 18 accuses
him of confinement, abduction and torture of Md Salahuddin at his Goods Hill
residence in the third week of July,
1971.

The first charge accuses Salauddin Quader Chowdhury of
genocide, abduction and torture. He had ordered the abduction of seven Hindus on
Apr 4-5, 1971. Six of them were tortured to death at his 'Goods Hill' residence
in his presence.

According to the 10th charge, he accompanied
Pakistani Army in looting the house of Manik Dhar of Dabua village at Raozan and
torching the house of local Chairman Sadhon Dhar.

The 11th charge
accuses Chowdhury of genocide and deportation.

On Apr 20, Pakistani Army
and Razakars jointly attacked Hindu populated Shakhapura village at Boalkhali
and killed 76 people in the jungle and paddy field near Shakhapura Primary
School they had taken shelter in. Family members and rest of the community had
left the country to save lives.

Salauddin Quader has been accused of
genocide in the 12th charge. He had led the Pakistani Army in Jogot Mollo
Parha village on May 5 and killed Bijay Krishna Chowdhury Rakhal, Bibhutibhushan
Chowdhury and Harendra Lal Chowdhury.

The 14th charge accuses the
maverick politician of abduction, confinement, torture and murder.

On May
20, Salauddin Quader and his accomplices led Pakistani Army to abduct Awami
League supporter Md Hanif from his house at the bank of Karta Dighi at Raozan’s
Patherhat and took him to Goods Hill. Hanif’s family had tried for his release
through Salauddin Quader’s relative Nazma Khatun, but that did not work out when
he demanded Tk 1,000 for that.

Hanif was tortured by Salauddin Quader
himself, Nazma had said. He was killed later.

According to charge
number 19, the Pakistani army picked up two brothers, Nur Mohammad and Nur
Alam on July 27, 1971 and took them to Goods Hill. They later picked up another
brother of theirs, Mahbub Alam and tortured all the three. Salauddin Quader took
TK 10,000 and released Mohammad and Alam on the next day but told them that
Mahbub was sick. Later, the brothers came to know that Mahbub had been
killed.

Charges of murder, abduction, confinement and torture have been
levelled against Chowdhury for this incident.

Charge number 20
accuses him of confinement, torture and murder.

On July 27, 1971 Razakars
detained Eklas Mia from Kadur Khali village and eventually took him to Goods
Hill and he was tortured to death there.

The 23rd charge accuses
the BNP MP of abduction, confinement and torture.

On Sept 2, 1971,
Salauddin Quader allegedly tortured one M Salimullah at his Goods Hill residence
after he had objected to torturing one of his Hindu employees earlier in the
day.

Unevaluated

However, remaining six charges – 9, 13,
15, 16, 21 and 22 – of the 23 framed against the BNP policymaker were not
evaluated as the prosecution failed to produce any witnesses to substantiate
them.

The ninth charge accuses him of genocide, loot, arson and
deportation.

In mid-April, he was staying in a Razakar camp at Boalkhali
while Pakistani Army caught Shanti Deb of Munsirhat and killed him at Banik
Parha, near where he was at the time. Pakistani Army and Razakars also looted
and burned down the house of Ram Babu of Banik Parha and Hindu Parha of
Kodurkhali at the time. Hindus of those households later fled to
India.

The 13th charge accuses him of complicity in genocide,
loot, rape and persecution on political grounds.

On May 10, Pakistani
Army arrived at Ghashi Majhirpar based on the directions from Salauddin Quader,
his father and Peace Committee member Oli Ahmed to launch an attack on the
people of the area, mostly Awami League supporters. Six people were shot dead
and two injured while five women were raped.

The 15th charge
accuses him of abduction, confinement and torture of Sheikh Mamun Ali Chowdhury
in mid-May, 1971.

Salauddin Quader abducted, confined, tortured and
murdered one Omar Faruk on Jun 7, 1971 at his Goods Hill residence, according to
the 16th charge.

He is accused of abduction, confinement and torture
under charge number 21.

Salauddin Quader, along with the Pakistan
army, had allegedly picked up Fazlul Haque Chowdhury, Union Parishad Chairman of
Binajuri, in the first week of August, 1971. He was taken to Goods Hill and
crippled by sustained torture. He was handed over to Raozan police and was later
released, but died on Sept 10, 1987.

According to charge number
22, he had abducted Md Nuru Chowdhury with the help of his Al-Shams Bahini
in second week of August, 1971. Chowdhury was taken to Goods Hill and tortured,
but released after Chowdhury's father paid Salauddin Quader TK 6,500.

It
accuses him of abduction, confinement and torture.

The verdict against
the BNP MP for his crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War came on
Tuesday, one and a half years after the trial begun.

Salauddin Quader was
indicted on Apr 4 last year on charges that include rape, murder, abduction and
torture during the war. He has been behind bars since Dec 16,
2010.